by USA TODAY

by USA TODAY

The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court gave the National Security Agency the authority to establish its data-collection program. Should the system be more transparent? Comments from Facebook are edited for clarity and grammar:

Some processes and procedures need to remain secret for the good of the American people, particularly when it involves national security and catching terrorists.

- Dave Pettinari

The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court is a direct affront to the notion that the people control the government, as opposed to the government controlling the people, which is the basic bedrock principle that the United States of America was founded upon.

Before the Constitution was written, the Colonials wanted to have a say in their own government. "No taxation without representation" was the rallying cry that eventually led the colonies into a war with England.

That war was fought to break the colonies free of an oppressive government and to give them a chance to form their own country, one with a government that would not oppress the people, trample their rights in the name of some nebulous "greater good," or place the dictates or desires of the government over the rights and personal liberties of the individual.

The FISA court is the precise opposite of that. A secret court hearing secret evidence and granting secret warrants for secret searches?

Our Founding Fathers would be more than aghast; they'd be willing to go to war to stop it. We know this because, well, they did go to war to stop things like that.

- Will Garmer

National security is more important than personal data as long as you don't have anything to hide. What's the worry?

- Anthony Szeto

National security can also be compromised by an overbearing and seemingly intrusive nanny state when the citizens decide to revolt.

Part of national security is securing the citizens' pride in their nation and government, with the feeling of stability from work and income.

- Greg Krynen

Letters to the editor:

As understood by our Founding Fathers, a government that is not held accountable to its citizens via checks and balances will ultimately violate democratic principles and transform into a tyranny.

The saddest reality of this tragic episode in American history is that the increasingly paranoid spying on ordinary citizens by certain elements within our government will merely further encourage suspicion of the government among the populace and foster mistrust. This cannot be good for our democracy.

Michael Pravica; Henderson, Nev.

When did the American dream turn into a nightmare of paranoia? How did members of Congress get it into their heads that the American people have decided to give up their constitutional rights to freedom of speech, a free press, due process and privacy?

How can it be legal for the National Security Agency to monitor the phone calls and e-mails of millions of citizens by authorization of a special court set up just for that purpose?

How can we hold prisoners for years in a foreign country without bringing them to trial?

We lost the Twin Towers and nearly 3,000 lives on 9/11 not because of insufficient security, but because the FBI and other government agencies failed to communicate in a timely manner.

My wife's father fought in the Battle of the Bulge with the 101st Airborne in World War II so that fascism would not take over the world. I'll bet he is turning over in his grave right now!Frank L. Bracy Jr.; Three Rivers, Mich.